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Just hours after Japanese investigators announced findings of fabrication and misconduct in a highly criticized "acid bath" stem cell study, scientists in Hong Kong said they had partly succeeded in reproducing the controversial experiment, but without acid.
Kenneth Ka-Ho Lee, a professor and stem cell scientist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said Tuesday that he was shocked speechless when he and colleagues managed to create cells that appeared similar to the so-called STAP cells described in the much-discredited research papers.
"I thought one of my students was playing an April Fool's Day trick on me," Lee said. "I was astounded."
Lee, who has been openly critical of the original STAP cell research, has been blogging his attempts to reproduce the authors' results on ResearchGate, a networking website for scientists.
Lee initially attempted to reprogram mouse blood cells into pluripotent stem cells — cells capable of transforming into most any other type of cell — using the original study's protocol, but failed.
When one of the original study's authors, Dr. Charles Vacanti of Harvard affiliated Brigham and Women's...
Kenneth Ka-Ho Lee, a professor and stem cell scientist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said Tuesday that he was shocked speechless when he and colleagues managed to create cells that appeared similar to the so-called STAP cells described in the much-discredited research papers.
"I thought one of my students was playing an April Fool's Day trick on me," Lee said. "I was astounded."
Lee, who has been openly critical of the original STAP cell research, has been blogging his attempts to reproduce the authors' results on ResearchGate, a networking website for scientists.
Lee initially attempted to reprogram mouse blood cells into pluripotent stem cells — cells capable of transforming into most any other type of cell — using the original study's protocol, but failed.
When one of the original study's authors, Dr. Charles Vacanti of Harvard affiliated Brigham and Women's...